Life's Negotiations

Drawing negative space, in art class lingo, is about seeing the space between objects as having the same dimensions and depth as the objects themselves.

When you draw this, it often looks strange. Like a bunch of disconnected shapes.

It's a good exercise because it trains your creative mind to see all that's happening in front of you and recognize that all of it is useful to capturing your subject.

The relationship between mass and space is valuable outside of art too. I was thinking about it after my morning run.

This morning The Brian Leher Show had a segment on mindfulness. How timely.

The interviewee, Gabriel Cohen, talked about a Buddhist belief that when something bad happens (unemployment, death, divorce), it is like an arrow has hit us.

The Buddhists believe that we often hit ourselves with a second arrow, like judgment or blame, that makes the hurt worse.